Ubuntu 9.10 brings web sync, faster bootup, GNOME 2.28

The Ubuntu Linux distribution has received a major update today. The new version, Ubuntu 9.10, will introduce several significant new features and will deliver the latest version of the GNOME desktop environment and other applications.

This is the eleventh release of Ubuntu since the project's inception five years ago. The distribution has achieved an unprecedented level of popularity in the Linux desktop ecosystem and has attracted a considerable audience. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, touts the new release as its best yet and says that the latest improvements will take the Ubuntu user experience to the next level.

Ubuntu 9.10, codenamed Karmic Koala, is the first release to include Ubuntu One, Canonical's new Web synchronization service. We first looked at Ubuntu One earlier this year during the beta testing stage. The service has gained several new features, including support for synchronizing contacts from the Evolution mail application and notes from Tomboy. Users can activate the Ubuntu One service by launching it from the Applications menu in the GNOME panel.

The new version of Ubuntu also offers an improved startup experience with new artwork and significantly improved boot performance. There are minor usability improvements throughout the entire distribution thanks to the Papercuts project, an initiative launched by Canonical to address user interface weaknesses in GNOME and other upstream projects. Ubuntu 9.10 has a new framework for programmers called Quickly that will automatically generate code templates to help get application development up and running faster.

GNOME 2.28, the latest version of the GNOME desktop environment, brings some nice enhancements to Ubuntu 9.10. This is the first version of Ubuntu to include GNOME's Empathy instant messaging client and overhauled audio preferences tool. Empathy has support for voice and video chat, Adium themes, and a number of other features.

Other important upstream software shipped with Ubuntu 9.10 includes version 2.6.31 of the Linux kernel and Firefox 3.5, which adds new features like private browsing mode and support for the HTML 5 video element.

"Ubuntu 9.10 gives users more reasons than ever to seriously consider Linux at a time when many are thinking again about their operating system options. We are delivering a platform for users interested in an easy-to-use, great-looking, web-friendly operating system," said Canonical COO Jane Silber in a statement. "A faster, more beautiful boot and login sequence, file and contact synchronisation through online services and great experiences on the most popular notebook, desktop and netbook models continue to drive Ubuntu into the mainstream of computing choices."

The Ubuntu development community has also released updated versions of the Ubuntu server and netbook editions along with a number of other variants such as KDE-based Kubuntu. For more details, check out the feature tour and official release notes. Users can download the new version from the Ubuntu website. Watch for our detailed review next week.

50 Reader Comments

Sadly Kubuntu still feel like a second class citizen. I'll be givin a try to the latest OpenSuse real soon to see how their KDE desktop is. I've read much praise about it. I still had bad reminding about RPM but supposedly they improved a bit.

Probably not the best place to ask... but I had two general ubuntu upgrade questions. First, How much of what the revision update provides is already covered by the iterative package management updates I've been doing for over a year? Second, I've stuck to the "netbook remix" distro for my 1000HA eeePC in the past - how far behind are such builds now? And are they still needed for my hardware? (I'm running the netbook remix 8.04 distro on the netbook currently if that makes any difference - I'm not too quick to upgrade because of the hassle in doing so without an optical drive).

Originally posted by Werfu:Sadly Kubuntu still feel like a second class citizen. I'll be givin a try to the latest OpenSuse real soon to see how their KDE desktop is. I've read much praise about it. I still had bad reminding about RPM but supposedly they improved a bit.

sad but true Kubuntu is just a kde variant of ubuntu and misses out on many of the goodies in karmic like xsplash,software center, ubuntu one to mention a few

I have to ask as a Windows user. Why is the need for "faster bootup"? I keep hearing about them bragging about the 10 second bootup and things of that sort. Are people really in that much of a hurry to get their system turned on that they're getting pissed off at "OMG it's taking 15 seconds to boot my computer up! This is crap!"? Just doesn't make much sense to me, but maybe because I usually boot up my system when I get home, change out of my work clothes, and hop on. Even so, Windows 7 does boot up in about 15 seconds for me, so we're close damnit!

Edit: Hope I don't sound like a fanboy or whatnot, just curiosity is all.

Originally posted by Mortus:I have to ask as a Windows user. Why is the need for "faster bootup"? I keep hearing about them bragging about the 10 second bootup and things of that sort. Are people really in that much of a hurry to get their system turned on that they're getting pissed off at "OMG it's taking 15 seconds to boot my computer up! This is crap!"? Just doesn't make much sense to me, but maybe because I usually boot up my system when I get home, change out of my work clothes, and hop on. Even so, Windows 7 does boot up in about 15 seconds for me, so we're close damnit!

Edit: Hope I don't sound like a fanboy or whatnot, just curiosity is all.

There are people out there (myself included) who cares about things like :- Doesn't want to waste energy- Doesn't want to hear constant fan noise- ...

This doesn't mean I'm not using my computer heavily (that's the first thing I do when I wake up)...but the things can stay off when I'm sleeping, not home, or doing something else. Since I have 2 very old computers, boot time is indeed a real problem. Linux used to be much slower to boot than Windows, but it's no longer the case, and I'm grateful for that.

Boot-up time is important to me, since my work laptop switched between docked at work on the network cable and home on the wifi/VPN. Going to suspend was no good because the network drives, etc. go wacky and I have to reboot anyway (thank you xp pro!). Now, I can't use Linux, but boot-up times CAN be important.

For my home machines, couldn't care less. I just have them hibernate and they start up quickly enough (xp home and vista hp). XP is annoying me to the point of moving to ubuntu on my laptop. Since it's really just for websurfing, I find myself playing PC games less and less. And now I have the work laptop for my windows-only sas stuff.

Having bored you with all this, these aren't really headline features for an OS. Android is going to supplant Ubuntu pretty quickly, I imagine.

Originally posted by Fentras:Probably not the best place to ask... but I had two general ubuntu upgrade questions. First, How much of what the revision update provides is already covered by the iterative package management updates I've been doing for over a year?

It depends on what you mean by "iterative package management". Does it mean "i only update my softwares when the package manager prompts me" ? Do you install manually all the new versions of yours softwares ? Do you update your repositories to point to the latest one ?Each Ubuntu version typically ships with some specific version of each application. If you don't manually request the new version (and sometimes you have to change your depositories for that), you will get stuck with only security updates.

Moreover, you won't have all the tweaks and UI upgrades made between each version. For example, I remember in version 7 and earlier, you had to manually configure Samba to share files with a Windows PC... Since one of the 8.x release (i don't remember which) it works out of the box. That was only one example among others...Many small annoyances are ironed out with each new version.

quote:

Second, I've stuck to the "netbook remix" distro for my 1000HA eeePC in the past - how far behind are such builds now? And are they still needed for my hardware? (I'm running the netbook remix 8.04 distro on the netbook currently if that makes any difference - I'm not too quick to upgrade because of the hassle in doing so without an optical drive).

Netbook Remix releases are released at the same time as the others, so having a "normal" 9.10 or a NR 9.10 is exactly the same thing software-wise, except for the NR UI (which I think is far more suited to netbook than the standard one). I'm not sure about the hardware though.

However I don't understand why you would need an optical drive to update ? You do know you don't need to install a new ISO ? Provided you are connected to the Internet, everything can be done through the update manager, and a single reboot.

I think the point of faster boot up is sort of the same goal that Google OS is shooting for ... to get better adoption on laptops/netbooks (which MS is wavering on since they're still very focused on desktop comps). If folks could boot their comp in 10 seconds, then they wouldn't be so worried about sleep/hibernate, which still has some issues in Linux (and, yes, even Win7), due to crazy hardware vendors still screwing around.

I love Ubuntu, but I see it getting stuck between a rock & a hard-place here very quickly since it's being "jack of all trades, master of none". Win7 is going to rule the desktop scene pretty soon, since MS is still very desktop-centric. Google OS or Android may end up being heavy hitter on netbooks. Ubuntu is splitting its resources working on desktop and netbook versions. Since they have more limited resources than MS & Google, they need to pick a platform and home in on it. Desktops have not proven to be a good (profitable) platform to target. So, they should re-direct to netbooks.

While Google OS is focusing on minimal desktop/OS and all the action taking place in web/cloud-computing, Ubuntu can focus on being a real OS on a netbook that's still powerful enough to function like a desktop OS ... just more portable and more accommodating to power & portability.

It'll be interesting trying out Karmic. The past couple of releases have always had "two steps forward, one step back" syndrome. I remember the last distro where Pulse Audio got confused if you had 2+ sound cards ... STILL, which was supposed to be fixed. But ultimately I had to remove my creative card and use the built-in mobo sound to resolve it. I like where they're going, it just seems like they're throwing spaghetti at the wall trying to see what will stick sometimes. And sometimes it's hard to tell what (if any) improvements have been made.

Still, all that said ... it's FREE. I don't mind having some bugs, since I know I'm getting it for free, they take user feedback seriously, and they're not just spending half their time trying to find ways to cripple the OS so they can entice folks to get a "premium" version. *cough* MS *cough*

Originally posted by Ksempac:However I don't understand why you would need an optical drive to update ? You do know you don't need to install a new ISO ? Provided you are connected to the Internet, everything can be done through the update manager, and a single reboot.

Originally posted by Ksempac:Linux used to be much slower to boot than Windows, but it's no longer the case, and I'm grateful for that.

According to Anandtech's tests, that's still the case. Of course, those were run with Ubuntu 9.04, not 9.10.

This is one of those situtations where results can vary wildly with hardware. My netbook boots really fricken fast. However, even between normal desktops boot time can vary quite a bit. I am rather skeptical of any claim about windows boot speed being better, though. I could see a lean windows machine MAYBE making it to the desktop a bit faster, but 9/10 windows machines seem to take FOREVER to respond after dropping you to the desktop. Users than invariably click on stuff 20 times and finally give up and site there and about 2 minutes later 50 windows will open.

Likewise, why does boot time matter?Well, most linux users HATE rebooting. We are used to being able to have our PCs running 24x7, if not 24x7x365. Not to mention if I take a laptop to class for taking notes or something, it's really nice if it boots in 2 seconds as opposed to 2 minutes. So fast bootup is definitely something I appreciate, particularly for netbooks/laptops.

Not to mention if I take a laptop to class for taking notes or something, it's really nice if it boots in 2 seconds as opposed to 2 minutes. So fast bootup is definitely something I appreciate, particularly for netbooks/laptops.

Because whether or not sleep/hibernate mode actually works on Ubuntu is an utter crapshoot.WOrse yet, sleep used to work on my desktop in 8.10 and stopped in 9.04. Haven't checked 9.10 yet. Works perfectly well on a dell workstation running 9.04 though. As i said, crapshoot. Fuck the boot times, try and get driver fixes in for sleep mode.

anita man, the sleep thing might be determined by different hardware differenly. my workstation suspends just fine, but my netbook (acer aspire one) won't suspend to save its life. A lot of variables go into things like that. I know the 2.6.30 and higher kernel's suspend better than the pre-2.6.30 kernel.(i use arch, though, not ubuntu).

Glad to see Ubuntu is sticking to their 6 month schedule. Now waiting on a full review then Fedora 12!

Originally posted by Larry Flank:I just did a clean install with 9.10 64 bit, install went fine no problems.

Kind of hard to do anything when your mouse and keyboard don't work when it boots up though. But hey, at least it boots up fast, thats whats important, right?

8.10 and 9.04 didn't do this.9.10 beta did the same thing.

So, when you saw this bug in the beta, did you report it somewhere? Did you tell anyone something was broken? Or did you just say to yourself "this sucks" and leave it? It can't get better if no one who's fixing things knows what's wrong.

Awesome, glad to see Ubuntu is getting better and better. As a Windows user, IMO Ubuntu is the only Linux that matters, cause theyre main goal is to make it useable, and not just a "make your own operating system" for geeks, like all the other distros.

I have 8.10 installed using WUBI for whenever I feel like using linux, definitely going to check 9.10 out.

Originally posted by Mortus:I have to ask as a Windows user. Why is the need for "faster bootup"? I keep hearing about them bragging about the 10 second bootup and things of that sort. Are people really in that much of a hurry to get their system turned on that they're getting pissed off at "OMG it's taking 15 seconds to boot my computer up! This is crap!"? Just doesn't make much sense to me, but maybe because I usually boot up my system when I get home, change out of my work clothes, and hop on. Even so, Windows 7 does boot up in about 15 seconds for me, so we're close damnit!

Edit: Hope I don't sound like a fanboy or whatnot, just curiosity is all.

I can't help you understand this, but I can explain how to find out for yourself.

1) Get a resonably-old Desktop (not laptop). 2) Install Windows XP or pre-SP1 Vista.3) Try to use the Windows "hibernate" function.4) [optional] Cry.5) Shut down and boot up your Desktop every time you want to check email.6) Reach an understanding about why bootup times are so important for so many.

Originally posted by Mortus:I have to ask as a Windows user. Why is the need for "faster bootup"? I keep hearing about them bragging about the 10 second bootup and things of that sort. Are people really in that much of a hurry to get their system turned on that they're getting pissed off at "OMG it's taking 15 seconds to boot my computer up! This is crap!"? Just doesn't make much sense to me, but maybe because I usually boot up my system when I get home, change out of my work clothes, and hop on. Even so, Windows 7 does boot up in about 15 seconds for me, so we're close damnit!

Edit: Hope I don't sound like a fanboy or whatnot, just curiosity is all.

I can't help you understand this, but I can explain how to find out for yourself.

1) Get a resonably-old Desktop (not laptop). 2) Install Windows XP or pre-SP1 Vista.3) Try to use the Windows "hibernate" function.4) [optional] Cry.5) Shut down and boot up your Desktop every time you want to check email.6) Reach an understanding about why bootup times are so important for so many.

don´t get it.

have used windows xp for the past 6 years, on countless notebooks. standby and hibernation always worked like a charm.

Originally posted by Larry Flank:I just did a clean install with 9.10 64 bit, install went fine no problems.

Kind of hard to do anything when your mouse and keyboard don't work when it boots up though. But hey, at least it boots up fast, thats whats important, right?

8.10 and 9.04 didn't do this.9.10 beta did the same thing.

So, when you saw this bug in the beta, did you report it somewhere? Did you tell anyone something was broken? Or did you just say to yourself "this sucks" and leave it? It can't get better if no one who's fixing things knows what's wrong.

Phil

I posted in the ubuntu forums. I've never done a bug report before, guess I'll look into doing that.

Originally posted by Mortus:I have to ask as a Windows user. Why is the need for "faster bootup"?

I can't help you understand this, but I can explain how to find out for yourself.

1) Get a resonably-old Desktop (not laptop). 2) Install Windows XP or pre-SP1 Vista.3) Try to use the Windows "hibernate" function.4) [optional] Cry.5) Shut down and boot up your Desktop every time you want to check email.6) Reach an understanding about why bootup times are so important for so many.

don´t get it.

have used windows xp for the past 6 years, on countless notebooks. standby and hibernation always worked like a charm.

Originally posted by mathrockbrock:And sometimes I just wanna turn on my Macbook quickly to check the weather before deciding whether to catch the bus or walk.

My Macbook Pro goes for days with the lid closed and is nearly instantly usable when I open it*. I don't think I've turned my laptop off in 18 months.

* This only seems to work with OS X - Windows doesn't handle this as well.

Is it plugged in the whole time? In other words, is it in sleep mode or hibernate mode? I know the Mac automatically switches between the two, but which one it is waking up from might make a big difference.

My Windows machine is really fast waking up from sleep mode, but it takes a little longer to wake up from hibernation -- not awful, but you definitely notice waiting on it. Is the Mac's hibernation way niftier?

Originally posted by Joshmx:so will this "faster boot" mean it boots off the live disk faster too? that is pretty much the only way i use Ubuntu. I don't expect 10 seconds but less that 5 minutes would be nice.

Originally posted by Werfu:Sadly Kubuntu still feel like a second class citizen. I'll be givin a try to the latest OpenSuse real soon to see how their KDE desktop is. I've read much praise about it. I still had bad reminding about RPM but supposedly they improved a bit.

sad but true Kubuntu is just a kde variant of ubuntu and misses out on many of the goodies in karmic like xsplash,software center, ubuntu one to mention a few

Yeah, but if you hate Gnome and like apt it's still the best option. Don't much care about xsplash, etc.

Getting the 64 bit version was kind of a pain, I had to google ubuntu 9.10 64 bit,which got me http://releases.ubuntu.com/karmic/, just an fyi for any one else only getting the 32 bit option from the link.

+1 on wanting Kubuntu to be a 1st class citizen and more time/energy devoted to it. KDE 4.3 still needs a little work, but it's getting there, and certainly works plenty well enough to use every day. Does the PaperCuts project do anything with KDE?

Originally posted by Joshmx:so will this "faster boot" mean it boots off the live disk faster too? that is pretty much the only way i use Ubuntu. I don't expect 10 seconds but less that 5 minutes would be nice.

Greatest benefit was to be noticed for machines booting from SSDs.

Also you should create a LiveUSB drive and boot from that, it boots a lot faster that way. You can also save your settings and files.

Originally posted by Joshmx:so will this "faster boot" mean it boots off the live disk faster too? that is pretty much the only way i use Ubuntu. I don't expect 10 seconds but less that 5 minutes would be nice.

Greatest benefit was to be noticed for machines booting from SSDs.

Also you should create a LiveUSB drive and boot from that, it boots a lot faster that way. You can also save your settings and files.

Installs way faster too, also doesn't waste a CD/DVD for only one use.

I'd like to see some significant development time spent on improving battery life on laptops. Seriously, what percentage of users now use laptops vs. desktops? 70/30 in favor of laptops? Having Windows beat you in the battery life department by 50% is embarrassing.

In response to the earlier poster, the 64-bit version is on the main download page if you click on "alternative download options". If anyone else is curious, the torrent link is the fastest way to get it.

Right now, I am typing this from the 64-bit version on a quad-boot system. I did a fresh install after deleting my 9.04 partition and the install & hardware detection went fine. While I'm still in the early stages of using it, everything works great far, other than an Ubuntu One (cloud storage) capabilities mismatch error. The OS seems more quick & responsive, and the new sound preferences tool is definitely a huge improvement in regards to simplicity & clarity over the previous mess. Things look better from the login prompt down to the icons, with improved visual consistency as well (I still don't care for the default theme though, and changed it almost right away). Not too shabby!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by orbific:In response to the earlier poster, the 64-bit version is on the main download page if you click on "alternative download options". If anyone else is curious, the torrent link is the fastest way to get it.

Originally posted by Dill:I'd like to see some significant development time spent on improving battery life on laptops. Seriously, what percentage of users now use laptops vs. desktops? 70/30 in favor of laptops? Having Windows beat you in the battery life department by 50% is embarrassing.